REHEARSALS RESUME AT UNIT ONE TODAY – PREPARATIONS FOR TWO BIG GIGS AND UK TOUR BEGIN

Our last sessions a few weeks back

We have a big year coming up with several important shows to prepare for. Rehearsals as ever will be taking place tonight at Unit One, Colchester.

The first of these is supporting current Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra, and Brandon Gibbs at The Music Room, Ipswich on April 15th. Joel Hoekstra is best known as the guitarist for “Whitesnake” and “Trans-Siberian Orchestra” along with a long list of other bands and projects he has worked with including Cher and Night Ranger. With impeccable guitar soloing and blazing riffs, Joel Hoekstra is without a doubt a guitar legend and one of the top guitarists in the world. Brandon Gibbs is not only the frontman for the supergroup “Devil City Angels” but also joined Poison in 2022 on the Def Leppard/Motley Crue Stadium Tour utilizing his searing voice on backup vocals. Brandon Gibbs is also known for his blues/rock style of guitar playing and his riveting song writing.

On May 19th we celebrate 5 years of Kaine in its current form coming together at Three Wise Monkeys, Colchester alongside our friends in Osmium Guillotine, Draugrheim, and Killerkorp. This gig will be recorded for a live album/video.

Finally, as announced, we’ll be touring again in June, this time in support of the legendary W.A.S.P Guitarist Chris Holmes.  We’ll be playing several dates across Wales, Scotland, and England as seen below.

Tickets for all these events are selling fast – so book now using the buy links below to avoid missing out:

  • April 15th, 2023 – The Music Room, Ipswich (Buy Tickets) **
  • May 19th, 2023 – Three Wise Monkeys, Colchester (Buy Tickets)
  • June 16th, 2023 – The Patriot, Crumlin (Buy Tickets) *
  • June 17th, 2013 – The Tivoli Venue, Buckley (Buy Tickets) *
  • June 18th, 2023 – Bannermans, Edinburgh (Buy Tickets) *
  • June 22nd, 2023 – Trillian’s, Newcastle (Buy Tickets) *
  • June 23rd, 2023 – The Black Prince, Northampton (Buy Tickets) (Buy VIP) *
  • June 24th, 2023 – Boston Arms Music Room, London (Buy Tickets) *
  • June 25th, 2023 – The Waterloo, Blackpool (Buy Tickets) *

TICKETS NOW ON SALE FOR CHRIS HOLMES MEAN MAN (EX W.A.S.P) AND KAINE UK TOUR 2023

  • June 16th, 2023 – The Patriot, Crumlin (Buy Tickets)
  • June 17th, 2023 – The Tivoli Venue, Buckley (Buy Tickets)
  • June 18th, 2023 – Bannermans, Edinburgh (Buy Tickets)
  • June 22nd, 2023 – Trillian’s, Newcastle (Buy Tickets)
  • June 23rd, 2023 – The Black Prince, Northampton (Buy Tickets) (Buy VIP)
  • June 24th, 2023 – Boston Arms Music Room, London (Buy Tickets)
  • June 25th, 2023 – The Waterloo, Blackpool (Buy Tickets)

SD Entertainment is delighted to announce that the ‘Chris Holmes Mean Man’ 65 Tour will visit seven venues across the UK in June 2023. The tour goes on sale Friday 10 February 2023 at 9am, tickets direct from the venue box offices. This tour marks not only Chris’ anticipated return to the UK but also celebrates his 65th birthday with very special VIP tickets available for an exclusive pre show birthday party available for the show in Northampton on 25 June! Support will come from Kaine on all dates.

Chris’ guitar work is synonymous with W.A.S.P.’s first four studio albums including ‘W.A.S.P.’, ‘The Last Command’,‘ Inside The Electric Circus’ and ‘The Headless Children’. He left W.A.S.P. in 1991 before re-joining, once again as lead guitarist, in 1995 remaining until 2001. In this time he played on two studio albums including ‘Kill F£@% Die’ and ‘Helldorado’ He can also be heard on 1987’s ‘Live. . . In The Raw’.

Since 2019, he has recruited new members for his band. Taking lead on the original W.A.S.P. material is Oliver Tindall, with Lex Gifford on bass [both coming from the band Wicked Jackals].Stephen Jackson on drums [from Heart Break Remedy] has been Chris ‘partner in crime for almost four years.

Chris will be performing a mix of W.A.S.P. classics along with his own original material including tracks from his latest album ‘Unbearable Influence’ which was released in September 2021.

“Man, I’d such a great time in UK last November and the fans are amazing. They love me and I love them so I wanna’ celebrate my birthday by giving back to them and celebrating with them. See you on the road!”

Chris Holmes

Chris Holmes is an enduring talent who has carved his own niche in rock ‘n’ roll history – don’t miss these very special celebratory dates.

Kaine is a young Heavy Metal band from Essex, England inspired by bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Megadeth, Saxon and more having recently toured with American Metal legends Lillian Axe and Riot Act (ex-Riot) as well as previously supporting American Thrash legends Mordred, and Monument (ex-White Wizard) on tours in years previous. They will be performing songs from their new album After Extinction.

KAINE TO TOUR IN SUPPORT OF W.A.S.P GUITAR LEGEND CHRIS HOLMES – MEAN MAN IN JUNE

We are delighted to announce that we will be touring in support of Chris Holmes – Mean Man in June! Chris Holmes is a legendary American guitarist and was a founding member of 80’s Metal legends W.A.S.P, appearing on their self-titled debut album, The Last Command, Inside the Electric Circus, and The Headless Children, he also appeared on later albums Kill F£@% Die and Helldorado.

Tickets will go on sale Friday for:

OVER 2500 HITS ON TOUR DATES TAB SINCE TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT

Tour Dates

As recently announced we will be going on tour with Lilian Axe and Riot Act in August and so far we have seen a record number of people clicking our tour dates and buy tickets tabs on this website.

You can still get tickets for the tour by clicking the links in the list below:

  • August 22nd, 2022 – Robin 2, Wolverhampton (buy tickets)
  • August 23rd, 2022 – Trillian’s, Newcastle (buy tickets)
  • August 24th, 2022 – Nightrain, Bradford (buy tickets)
  • August 25th, 2022 – Bannermans, Edinburgh (buy tickets)
  • August 26th, 2022 – Hangar 18, Swansea (buy tickets)
  • August 27th, 2022 – Underworld, Camden, London (buy tickets)

OVER 1’1OO CLICKS ON TOUR DATES PAGE SINCE LILLIAN AXE AND RIOT ACT TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT

Our Tour Dates page has experienced an increase in traffic after the recent tour announcement. Over 1’100 people have clicked through onto the page and the “Buy Tickets” links since the tour announcement last week.

Tickets are still available at the dates bellow, click (buy tickets) to order:

  • August 22nd, 2022 – Robin 2, Wolverhampton (buy tickets)
  • August 23rd, 2022 – Trillian’s, Newcastle (buy tickets)
  • August 24th, 2022 – Nightrain, Bradford (buy tickets)
  • August 25th, 2022 – Bannermans, Edinburgh (buy tickets)
  • August 26th, 2022 – Hanger 18, Swansea (buy tickets)
  • August 27th, 2022 – Underworld, Camden, London (buy tickets)

If you are hoping to attend the tour please let us know here.

Kaine interviewed by Metal Talk for Burr Fest this Saturday

The event is now sold out.

Kaine were recently interviewed for Burr Fest by Metal Talk which can be read by clicking the links below. Burr Fest takes place this Saturday from a sold out Dome in Tufnell Park, London.

“It’s definitely been a period of rebirth and revival for the band with Liam, Toby and Isaac coming in and then writing and recording ‘Reforge The Steel’. It’s a cliché but this is very much a new band, but equally because of the calibre of the previous line-ups we’ve also still got a lot to prove to people and people to win back who may have written us off. “

Blaze Bayley to perform special Iron Maiden 25th anniversary set at Burr Fest 2020

Blaze Bayley will perform a special Iron Maiden 25th anniversary set at Burr Fest 2020 which will take place at The Dome, Tufnell Park on March 7th. Tickets for the event are already selling fast.

Iron Maiden performing in 1996

Kaine were announced for the event late last week [Kaine – Burr Fest 2020] and will play alongside Absolva, Airforce, Tytan and Elixir.

Kaine bring live Heavy Metal back to the birthplace of Iron Maiden

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As announced in April, Kaine will be bringing back Heavy Metal to the birthplace of Iron Maiden in Stratford, London at the Cart & Horses. This will be a historic night as Heavy Metal returns to the Cart & Horses, May 13th.

Kaine already have a long list of connections to Iron Maiden and the NWOBHM. Not only is the band heavily influenced by Maiden, but they have supported Dennis Stratton (with Remus Down Blvd), Terry Wapram (in Buffalo Fish and V1) who once replaced Dave Murray in Iron Maiden and former singer Dennis Wilcock (also of V1). They have also supported other NWOBHM legends such as Diamond Head, Tygers of Pan Tang, Praying Mantis, Holocaust, Tytan (ex Angel Witch), The Deep, Satan’s Empire, The Handsome Beasts, Deep Machine, Desolation Angels and many more since their formation in 2009.

Cart & Horses 1

The first show is Saturday, with doors at around 9pm. On the bill Kaine will be playing a special headline set from their soon to be recorded new album and will be supported by Osmium Guillotine, who are influenced heavily by the NWOBHM. The show is free entry.

Revisiting The Waystone – Part 4 (Final)

This is my final installment of The Waystone story. I haven’t been able to write any of late due to real life stuff getting in the way.

Once we had finished the album, the artwork was drawn up and the first run of CD’s were printed due for an August release. The plan now to “launch” Kaine was to have us go out on tour with Monument prior to the albums release on their album launch tour.

We played the Luna Lounge in Leytonstone with The Raven Age (featuring George Harris, so of Steve of Iron Maiden fame) and then we were off on Tour. Before the tour had been booked, Monument lost their bass player and Chris Dale (former Bruce Dickinson and Tank bassist) was drafted in to replace him. Due to his schedule he wasn’t able to do the tour and thus Dan was asked to play in Monument for that tour, and he was to be paid for those shows with the band.

Drama struck on the day before the tour when the vehicle hire place refused to allow Dan to use the vehicle we had hired in advance due his age. The frustrating thing about this was the fact Dan had already informed them of his age before I gave them the money weeks prior which left us with no vehicle. We spent the day trying to hire/buy a vehicle and eventually we bought a car which ended up costing me £900 I couldn’t really afford which the back line didn’t fit in anyway! So we had to ditch that car and use both Dan and Chris’s regular vehicles. We had lost £900 and we had not even left yet!

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Our first gig was at the Rebellion Bar in Manchester. Unfortunately the audience was short changed on their admission fee due to the absolutely abysmal sound both on and off stage. Originally we were told that we weren’t going to be miced up and we would set out own levels which we did only to be told seconds before going stage that were to be miced up and had to turn down. The monitors on stage didn’t work for either the vocals or guitars and the end result is we heard nothing and neither did the audience as next to nothing was coming out front of house either. The crowd was actually really good and receptive but not any larger then we would get back home, and it was quite unique to see so many people sitting down for the show. In the end I asked the audience if they actually wanted to hear some guitars, to which they responded positively and I just bumped my amp up to a decent level and smashed the rest of the set out at real volume. Monuments sound didn’t fair any better with most of the guitars and bass non existent throughout the set and even the vocals were struggling. It was a real mess and not the start to a tour we would have hoped for.

We also met Lee Farmery of Furyon fame for the first time this night (well Dan had met him previously in rehearsals) which was really cool, Chris had always been a fan of Furyon and would often play them in the car to and from gigs which subsequently made me a fan of the band too. It’s weird how these things work out sometimes. Lee would actually go on to give the band it’s biggest ever opportunity which I will explain later on in this blog.

We had our first falling out with Peter Ellis (our manager at the time) after the show with him referring to myself as being aggressive and Chris as being disrespectful to him. This would all play out during the tour.

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After Manchester we headed down to Sheffield to play the Corporation which was a much better experience as the sound on stage and off was spot on and the crowd was bigger than Manchester but still not huge by any standards. This was also the night that Peter Ellis informed us that he had split with Akis (producer of The Waystone) and that we wouldn’t be working with him any longer. We called a band meeting without him and decided that we would be working with Akis regardless. The gig was hurt by the fact the venue had a club night on with DJ’s at the same time so many of the audience filtered out during the night. We were also hurried out of the venue to pack gear away which is always a nightmare. Dan was on stage with Monument at the time and Anthony was looking after both merch stands so I and Chris had to pack up our entire back line as the club night started which wasn’t fun.

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We then went down to Birmingham to play The Flapper. Again, as with Sheffield the sound was perfect but there was next to no people there and one of the lowest turnouts for a gig we had experienced. Touring is often glorified but the reality is very different if you’re an unknown band like ours, you will find yourself losing money and playing to very few people and that’s why many bands simply don’t bother with it at our level.

Things picked up for our next date in Scotland at the Stereo in Glasgow. It was extremely well attended and one of our best ever gigs, both in terms of audience reaction and our personal performance. It was this show that actually got us booked on Wildfire the following year so a significant gig for us. It was also my first ever trip to Scotland, somewhere I had always wanted to visit and I was instantly very impressed with Glasgow as a City and Scotland as a whole. We were treated extremely well. Both Dan and Chris’s fathers are Scottish and Ant was born there when his father was in the Royal Air Force so they had all been there before I had.

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There were a couple of funny moments in Cumbernauld where we staying. The first being was Dan’s van ran out diesel meaning I had to push it to the service station and when we came back we were able to convince Ant and Chris that Dan had decided to leave the band after the tour which they believed until I started laughing. Dan had to face away from them when I was telling them why we had been so late so he wouldn’t laugh! On our trip to get some food whilst walking along the road leading from the Travelodge, I was suddenly hit with a thud of something hard and wet that Chris had just kicked. I had instantly thought Chris had kicked roadkill at me leaving me wet and dirty. In anger I kicked this “roadkill” back to find it exploded into pieces. It turned out this was an Andrex Puppy and while I kicked it the head came clean off and it ended up on top of someone’s car.

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After Glasgow it was straight across to Edinburgh another city I was instantly impressed with and probably the best place I have ever visited. We met up with the guys from Culloden in Andrew, Karl and Graeme who had come up to the show from the North East of England by train and joined us for our visit around the city which was great fun and a huge laugh., although we did end up with parking tickets as a result. The show itself went well enough but wasn’t as well attended as Glasgow. I did enjoy the fact they had an air condition on the stage in the venue, called Bannermans which is actually a really cool rock venue.

It was after this night that everything started to go pear shaped. On our way back down to England it had transpired that Ant and Dan had inadvertently witnessed something that Peter Ellis didn’t want them to see and was pretty upset with them to the point of being very unprofessional in his response to this. I will elaborate on this whole debacle later as I plan to put more details down in a book at some point. I didn’t take his behavior very well and considering we were paying him to manage us I found this unacceptable. We decided that night we weren’t going to work with him anymore and I discussed with Dan exactly how it would go down and exactly what I would do to both diffuse and take charge of the situation as anyone who knows me, knows that I won’t ever back down from a fight and I certainly won’t be intimidated by anyone. I was utterly offended by how he treated Dan and Ant and I was having none of it.

As ever there were politics behind it. Peter very much comes from the school of creating situations to benefit himself. He basically didn’t have a full time bass player and wanted Dan in his band, so in my view it was blatant that all of this was an attempt to cause us to split. What he failed to understand is we weren’t just four guys in a band thrown together but four best friends. We would never dream of damaging the band for one individuals gain and that’s why we still remain friends to this day even though both Dan and Ant are no longer with the band. It didn’t work and the whole episode was frankly embarrassing. Dan was hardly going to be allured to make the jump from Kaine to another band drawing as many people as we do anyway, it was hardly Metallica calling.

Chris had to leave the tour at this point due to the fact he had an University assessed performance to attend which was very important. We had asked James Balcombe to fill in for the date as he had been our friend for years and never had the opportunity to play a proper gig with us although we had jammed together many times before.

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The final show of the Renegades tour was in London at the Barfly in Camden. It was a really strange night. Before the show Peter Ellis asked for a meeting, we entered a room and he asked me to sit down, I refused as I said I was going to speak standing up and he mistakenly tried to front me out. I said to him outright we wouldn’t be working with him ever again, that his behavior had been completely out of order. He backed off from me and decided to try and pick on Anthony and the two had a heated exchange before Dan basically told him to leave, which he did and we never spoke again after that. Ant was extremely angry and did well to keep his cool, he did however punch a the wall leaving a dent. In the end we stuck up for ourselves and did what was right. I said if he tried to get us blacklisted from any venues or tried to defame us in any way he would hear from my solicitor. The whole MGR thing aside from some of the positives I wrote about in the previous parts was a disaster for Kaine and this was the straw that broke the camels back.

We took to the stage at the Barfly which was rammed and played a phenomenal set and given what we had been through it was tough and Dan still had to play with Monument. James did great with the set and we got off stage to a huge applause and sold the most merch that night of the entire tour. In the audience was Tony Dolan of Venom/Atomcraft fame (as well as appearing in big Hollywood films such as Master and Commander!) who reviewed the sow for Metal Temple. It was really cool to have met him as his aggressive vocal style and showmanship as a front man had been a huge influence on mine with Prime Evil being one of my favorite albums of all time. After the show, again we were hurried out of the venue so they could start their club night and that was that. We announced our severance from MGR the next day and it was over.

In the end MGR ended up costing us £3,516.60p and the tour with Monument £910 (£1,810 including the car we didnt use). We didn’t make any money on that tour, we were not paid for any of the nights and had to pay for our own fuel, food and accommodation whereas Monument did get a fee. Dan was never paid for any of his performances with Monument.

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After experiencing that nightmare we were finally able to release our album which sold out of its first and second pressing and received extremely good reviews. We did write to a number of record labels, little to large in stature in the hope they would put out the record but sadly no one worth their salt was interested and the best offer we had was we that if we signed the rights of the album away to them we would get 100 free CD’s to sell and nothing more. As you can expect we declined. It’s a real shame The Waystone wasn’t put out on a good label and pushed as it could have been a big success. We proved on our own that it was a popular record and would sell but on our own backs financially there’s only so far you can go.

A few months down the line Chris was contacted by Lee Farmery asking if we would like to do another tour. Chris then got in touch with me and I was then able to speak to Lee about the offer. Basically Furyon were due to tour with Mordred who are a legendary band from the Bay Area but their singer had suffered a serious problem with his throat meaning he simply could not do the tour just days before they were to set out. The tour was a number of O2 Academy shows across Britain and Ireland and with transport/accommodation already paid for.

I agreed that we would do it and got in touch with the band. Chris was already down for doing it and Dan agreed, however doing so cost him his job and damaged him significantly financially. Anthony however couldn’t take the time off as he had too much financial responsibility elsewhere to enable him to just leave for a tour and his workplace wouldn’t give him the time off. Knowing our predicament I immediately got in touch with a guitar played called Saxon Davids whose band Entropy had recently split up and I had been in contact with him since. I had seen Saxon play a few times years prior and had said to Dan I would really like to get him involved with Kaine. I had pitched the idea of becoming a five piece with Saxon to the guys prior to the tour but they didn’t want to be further compared to Iron Maiden so it never got off the ground. Saxon agreed to do the tour and Dan set off to see him for a quick learning session a few days before tour and we then had one rehearsal. We were soon on our way to the meet up point after no sleep to do the tour and the next thing we knew we were in the back of the van on our way to Wales so we could catch a ferry to Dublin. Amazingly despite the timescale were even able to get some t-shirts done!

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Along with Lee who effectively acted as our manager for tour, doing everything for us from running the merch to giving us some very sound advice, came Big Kev who helped drive the van and move the gear. Kev is also a great individual who was extremely helpful to us as a band and to both of them for doing what they did for Kaine I am eternally grateful.

We got onto the ferry and headed over to Ireland for the first time, another place I had always wanted to visit but never got the opportunity to do so. The ferry ride was good fun even though we had no sleep. I and Saxon were able to get into Ireland (and back) without any valid passports which was quite amusing! We met Mordred for the first time at the venue called the Voodoo and they were immediately very personable and good with us. We took to the stage having had no sleep and it being Saxon’s first ever gig with the band. He did extremely well although I don’t remember much of the set due to being so tired. We met up with our friend Ross Mc Eneff who is a singer/guitarist from Dublin which was cool. Seeing Mordred for the first time live was amazing. They were absolutely spot on given this was their first tour in many years and I was instantly blown away by how good the music was.

We headed back up to the U.K. to play Belfast which wasn’t a success for us. My wireless system was greatly affected by the lighting at the venue which meant I had to be wired for the show and a bit more stationary than I usually like to perform. Ipswich had just lost to Norwich that day which didn’t greatly improve my mood! I actually think we played alright but a reviewer absolutely hammered us that night! It would be the start of a recurring joke where after every gig I would tell Chris that we had another bad review and that they pointed out that he was a “shit Metal-core drummer” and a “stain on music”. It was only after the third time of me saying that he actually caught on to the fact I was winding him up! The venue was the Limelight and again we had to pack down quickly due to a nightclub starting which always makes things tough after gigs.

I asked Saxon that night in Belfast if he would be up for joining Kaine on the permanent basis and if I could ask the guys if that was possible. He agreed and I would speak to Chris and Dan at a later point about it.

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Mordred were being managed on the tour by Matt Denny who we had also met before in Edinburgh on the previous tour and like Lee, Matt was extremely supportive of Kaine and a great guy to be around. He did amusingly lost his voice about two days into the tour which made talking for him a struggle for the rest of it but he was really enjoying himself as a big Mordred fan!

We then returned from Ireland to play in London at the O2 Academy Islington for a show attended by the likes of Malcolm Dome and Dom Lawson from the mainstream Metal press. We played as a five piece that night as Anthony was able to join us for the gig and it was a huge success, we even got a decent review! It was also the proof I needed to convince the guys that three guitars would work in Kaine but that was an argument to be had later.

After London we played Birmingham at the O2 Academy there. It was a tough audience as the local support had brought a large amount of their own fan base and many of them were quite hostile to us and we were given a few stinkers of reviews from that show, one of which didn’t like us because he didn’t like Germans playing British Metal. Yes. I do despair! The same people gave Mordred a bit of a lashing that night as well so it wasn’t just us who suffered.

The problem with these O2’s is they use a lot of Pay to Play and ticket selling bands to open the shows and help on their costs but in most cases musically the bands and their support don’t match what the bands on the tour are about and you just end up with two groups of disappointed fans. It creates a degree of hostility and competition which is unwelcome in the Metal scene.

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Our next gig was at the O2/ABC in Glasgow for another great show in the city. We played the venue the same night as Blondie (who were playing another stage). While we had to lug our kit from a distance and park streets away, Blondie’s two touring buses simply parked in front of the venue much to Glasgow City Councils displeasure and they racked up a number of tickets which were stuck on the front of the buses which was quite funny to see. It was another great night although Saxon broke a string onstage which meant I and Sax had to head backstage for a quick change, almost like a Formula One pit stop while Chris and Dan covered for us with an excellent bass and rum jam. The advantage of me being wireless is I was able to turn on and join as we returned to the stage making the whole thing look like it was meant to happen!

It was then back down to Newcastle, which actually is a beautiful historic city at it’s core to play the O2 Academy there and again we met Karl and Andrew from Culloden and had a great day (and night) out in the city and overall another great gig. I was having the time of my life on this tour and it’s easily the best thing I have done in my life. Playing great venues with decent stages and good, receptive audiences was amazing but the fact at these bigger venues you can actually have a backstage area to get ready and relax and take a shower in after playing is a real treat and benefits your performance and morale greatly while on the road.

We then headed to Yorkshire to play Sheffield, again at the O2 Academy there. We managed to get lost in what appeared to be a maze backstage, along with Mordred where we couldn’t find the dressing rooms. Dan yelled “Hello Cleveland” in a reference to the Spinal Tap moment we were now living. We even lost Chris for about 40 minutes!

Next up was Liverpool for the first time as a band. This was a great night even though we managed to be accosted by probably the weirdest beggar I had ever experienced. He was desperately after food and kept hassling Chris for his dinner, I had bought an uncooked baguette by mistake (I don’t see very well) and some rather nasty Polish ham which I gave him. He then just walked into the pub with it! Gig wise the show was one of the best nights of the tour with the fans there being particularly wild and up for it, someone got so excited that they managed to puke up all over the floor! My amp actually blew up on the final section of Quality of Madness. It was great!

Rage on tour to promote The Waystone in 2014

After the high of that Liverpool show we headed down to the South West to play Bristol. Now this was the biggest stage we had ever played in our lives but probably to the smallest audience. The Bristol O2 was absolutely huge and there was an audience there, just up in the bar area and not on the floor for our set. They really hated us. I mean really hated us. We were cheered ironically when we left the stage! It happens in music, especially when you have a crowd especially there to see the headline band and that’s what they want to see. You cant take it personally as music is subjective and what some may enjoy others may hate and there’s been a few times during our career when the audience has booed us or walked out during our set. Many people don’t know just how small of a band we are which means when they write nasty things about us, as a few did on this tour, on social media we would see it and respond which is quite funny! They just don’t expect you to see it! It’s not like we are Axl Rose! I suspect he may have a breakdown if he sees what people write about him! You cannot please them all and when you step up in front of a bigger audience you are going to get as much criticism as you are praise.

The last date on the tour was Brighton and it was a great way to finish the tour as it was a great night, we were even invited up on stage with Mordred and we signed off what was, and still is, the best thing I ever did in music.

As I said I am eternally thankfully for everything Lee, Kev and Matt did for us on that tour and actually giving us the opportunity to effectively enjoy that level of show and performance at last once in our careers. After all the rubbish on the first tour this certainly made up for it and if it wasn’t for that first tour we would have never been asked to do the second one.

Mordred were also awesome people as well as an exceptional band, they treated us like their own and always made sure we had everything we needed. They even bought our merch and watched our set each night which is more than you will get from small local bands! They were true class.

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I don’t know if we will ever get to tour on that scale ever again. Chances are that was a once in a lifetime experience and given how we never really got picked up after The Waystone then I expect that may be the case. Even so it was still a great moment in my life and something I am immensely proud of. If I do nothing else with Kaine I can still say I did that and look back on that tour with fondness.

The difference between how we were treated by Lee, Kev, Matt and Mordred and what went down on the first tour is unreal. They didn’t charge us a penny, they made sure we had enough money for food, they helped us with the gear, they drove us to the venues, they supported and advised and they did it all because they are good people and that’s what it really should be all about. I really will never forget that and if I ever get into the position where I can support the next generation of bands in the same way, that’s exactly what I will do.

They say money is evil. Money isn’t evil. Some people are and it’s those few who exploit others for their own personal gain but on the other side there are people willing to help, nurture and support. Those are the people we need more of in Metal.

Love, as ever

Rage

Revisiting The Waystone – Part 3

Akis Kollaros - Producer of The Waystone (1980-2015)

Akis Kollaros – Producer of The Waystone (1980-2015)

Yesterday I covered 2013 and the main writing/rehearsal thrust for the album, signing with MGR and our image change. Today I am going to write about the recording process.

I am trying to keep things balanced so while the MGR thing ended up losing us thousands of pounds, but as I said in the previous blog the image changed did help and the second thing that helped us greatly was having access to Akis Kollaros.

Akis of Angry Bee Studios in London was the house producer for MGR, like Peter Ellis, was Greek and had been working with Monument on their releases. Akis called me as soon as he found out he was working with us and asked to hear our demos which I duly sent. He was impressed with what we had written and said he didn’t really need to alter what we were doing songwriting wise as we appeared to understand our direction and he didn’t need to alter the songs.

In January of 2014 I and Chris entered the studio to record the drums for the album. Chris had just one night to lay down all ten tracks and he had to run through them several times, literally working until the next day. Akis was immediately very personable, dedicated and confident in what he was doing. He worked hard with Chris to get the best out of him, even though Chris was starting despair having to do another take due to tiredness and as you can imagine wasn’t the easiest task given the lengths of some of the songs, but especially The Waystone. Chris performed exceptionally on all of the tracks in the end.

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Chris MacKinnon begins recording the drums in January of 2014

After the drums were done, Akis spent the week editing them into a drum sound I think is easily one of the best I have ever heard. After the drums were done, I and Dan went down to London for Dan to record his bass parts and again it was an all-nighter with Dan working on takes until the next day. Dan is an amazing bass player and nailed his parts in the studio that night. Near sleepless we returned to the studio the very next day so Anthony could start recording guitars and finally on the Sunday I laid down my guitar parts for the album. Anthony as with Chris and Dan did a sterling job recording his parts, harmonies and solos which frankly were impressive. Akis like with all of us worked him hard to get the perfect takes.

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Dan Mailer laying down the bass for The Waystone

Recording overall was a fairly smooth process aside from a couple of snags here and there. Akis showed me a better way of playing certain parts which was a huge help as he had an extensive knowledge of music and music theory where as I hit strings and am lucky if a tune comes out. He did it with all of us really and pushed us to our limits.We were able to get a lot done in a short amount of time due Akis’s work ethic.

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Anthony Murch working on the Lead Guitar for the album.

After another week or so of editing I and Dan headed down to London for the final recording sessions to do the vocals. We did them over two days with me taking the first and Dan taking the second with me doing a few overdubs. These were again recorded into the night and ideally we should have spent a little more time on them, but we were under pressure both financially and for a release later in 2014. Overall I think we did a fair enough job given the constraints. One of the highlights was when I was doing the scream on Iron Lady, Akis kept pushing me to do another. It got to the point I was seeing stars and nearly passed out on the floor. As I was fading from reality I heard in his Greek accent “One more take, just one more take”. We had a laugh doing those vocals!

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Me, Rage, butchering the classics on one of Akis’s many fine guitars.

Another Akis story is he asked myself and Dan if we wanted tea or coffee. We said tea and he proceeded to poor two black teas for us both. I and Dan looked at each other and then over at Akis who looked back us and said “I forgot you are English, I don’t have any milk”. He also loved Turkish food and would advise me and Dan to go and get a Turkish wrap from around the corner every time we went to get food. I can only imagine the disaster recording vocals on a belly full of that would have been for me and probably my underwear.

Akis then mixed the tracks with Peter Ellis’s guidance using the “Monument” formulae and sent them back to me. I wasn’t happy with the guitar sound at all and I ended up having a dispute with MGR over that as I wanted a much heavier guitar sound for that album (and still wish it was). In the end we ended up with a compromise on the guitars, and for the bass and the vocals. Had Akis been allowed to just work with us on those we would have sounded a lot better but these things happen in music. The reality is Kaine may be a traditional Metal band but we are also a heavy band. Our guitars have a bit of anger to them as well as melody, the bass is a prominent thing in all our music and my vocals are raw and are meant to be that way. Despite everything the album still sounds good and that’s entirely down to Akis’s hard work.

The album was then sent off to Z-Plane for mastering and everything was essentially done in March of that year. Akis encouraged us to release it right away but MGR didn’t want it to conflict with the Monument release. We did however get it printed early and started selling it as a pre-order before release and would later sell them to audience members out of a bag on the first tour we did which I will elaborate on tomorrow.

After the recording of the album we stayed in touch with Akis. I had already started bouncing track ideas off of him looking for guidance on the third Kaine album and we all became good friends with him. I stayed in close contact with him when he was in hospital in Greece and the last time we saw him was in June of that year. We had a really long chat about everything to do with the band, MGR and he gave us pointers on our live sound as we had just played a gig at the Boston Arms. He even signed albums for people who bought them on the night which was really cool. Akis even made the effort to phone and text me in December and January next year after my Facebook account had been removed maliciously just to ensure I was alright with everything. He was a very genuine guy.

Akis was sadly killed in an accident just over a year ago and is sorely missed by everyone who knew him. I believe our album was the last he ever worked on. His favourite song from the record was Wanderer, he liked it because it reminded him of Deep Purple’s Perfect Strangers, one of his favourite albums. I wrote the track to begin with a Ritchie Blackmore vibe so it was cool he heard the influence in the song. I still miss Akis and it’s such a huge tragedy that he was taken so young. We did support the campaign to have his body returned to Greece and pledged money to ensure he got home and had decent funeral. A special thanks is worth recording for his good friend Jo Lord for keeping us updated on everything to do with Akis’s funeral and family. It’s greatly appreciated by the band.

As ever… Love, Rage